Have your tastes changed over time?

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danbuter

Senior Cook
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Just something I thought about. I used to love creamy soups like New England Clam Chowder. These days, I just don't. I'd much rather have a brothy soup. Not sure why, but over the last couple years I've just lost my appetite for thicker soups.
 
When I was younger I used to make things that included everything but, the kitchen sink. Now I prefer simpler things with fewer ingredients. I was also more impressed by, what for me, are odd or expensive "gourmet" ingredients. Now I am more honest with myself and prefer good old country comfort food like I grew up with. I don't really think my tastes changed as much as I became comfortable with who I am, what I enjoy and where I came from.
 
Of course they have. For example, as a child I used to throw up at the thought of eating butternut squash and now I love it.

For me, it would be more accurate to say my tastes have broadened. I eat or am willing to try a lot more variety than when I was younger.
 
My mom always told me that your tastes change about every seven years, and it seems to hold true for me. I hated eggs as a child, and about every seven years I started liking a different type of eggs, ending with fried (over-easy, with completely runny yolks). I still don't care much for plain hard-boiled eggs, but I love egg salad and deviled eggs.

I still like some foods that I used to get in the mood for, but I don't get in the mood for them as much now.

I sometimes find myself wanting a little more seasoning or "heat" on some of my foods now, and less at other times. :)
 
When I was younger I used to make things that included everything but, the kitchen sink. Now I prefer simpler things with fewer ingredients. I was also more impressed by, what for me, are odd or expensive "gourmet" ingredients. Now I am more honest with myself and prefer good old country comfort food like I grew up with. I don't really think my tastes changed as much as I became comfortable with who I am, what I enjoy and where I came from.
I like how you phrased that! :flowers:
 
As a kid, I could (excuse me) projectile vomit if my different foods even touched each other on the plate. I was a master of putting food in my mouth, and spitting it out in my napkin, then throwing it away when I cleared the table. Any meat with fat was automatically rejected, except for bacon.

My dishes now are a mishmash, pot roast, casseroles, etc., and I love 'em all.
 
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I never liked beer or gin as a child ;)

I think as we mature so do our tastes. Our minds change, we learn new things and appreciate different thing from when we were younger. I think the same holds true for taste.
 
I never liked beer or gin as a child ;)

I think as we mature so do our tastes. Our minds change, we learn new things and appreciate different thing from when we were younger. I think the same holds true for taste.
That is why it drives me crazy when people won't try something just because they didn't like it as a kid. Some of my friends are like that. They won't offer their kids a food a second time if they say they don't like it the first time either. They just don't know what they are missing out on!
 
That is why it drives me crazy when people won't try something just because they didn't like it as a kid. Some of my friends are like that. They won't offer their kids a food a second time if they say they don't like it the first time either. They just don't know what they are missing out on!

Some of that response is from being forced to eat something you didn't like when you were a child. There are things I won't consider for myself, but am willing to cook for others.
 
Some of that response is from being forced to eat something you didn't like when you were a child. There are things I won't consider for myself, but am willing to cook for others.
Yeah, I know a lot of people who had that happen. The main person I am thinking about never had to eat anything he didn't want to eat, and he and his wife are pretty much doing the same with their kids. I guess most of us fall in the middle of those two examples. :)
 
I can't say I was ever really picky as a child, but I always hated "orange vegetables" like winter squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. As an adult I realized it wasn't the vegetables themselves I hated, but the fact that my mother always served them drowning in marshmallows or brown sugar. I've since learned to love orange vegetables, but only as savory dishes.

Same with fish and pork. Mom, bless her heart, cooked both to the point of inedibility. I love fish now and, if properly cooked (or in raw applications like sushi), I prefer it over almost any other meat.

I loved my mother dearly, but even she would admit she wasn't the best cook.
 
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I can't say I was ever really picky as a child, but I always hated "orange vegetables" like winter squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. As an adult I realized it wasn't the vegetables themselves I hated, but the fact that my mother always served them drowning in marshmallows or brown sugar. I've since learned to love orange vegetables, but only as savory dishes.

Same with fish and pork. Mom, bless her heart, cooked both to the point of inedibility. I love fish now and, if properly cooked (or in raw applications like sushi), I prefer it over almost any other meat.

I loved my mother dearly, but even she would admit she wasn't the best cook.

I never understood making veggies sickly sweet. There are so many things I eat now that I wouldn't touch as a kid, mostly because they were served covered in sugar of some sort.

Carrots cooking in lemon juice and ginger is divine!
 
One thing that seems to have changed my taste was the Atkins Diet.

After I was on it, I couldn't stand coffee, and it used to be a joke that when I opened my eyes, I wanted my coffee. Also, milk. I used to drink at least a coupla glasses of milk a day and now I can't stand it. And eggs. I used to say I could live on eggs, and for a while I couldn't stand them. I eat them occasionally now.

For the most part, though, I never met a vegetable I didn't like, and I seem to crave them. Not so keen on meat anymore. :huh:
 
As a child, I was known for my liking of all types of foods. I would try anything as long as I saw someone else eat it first.

I learned to love a wide variety of foods from other cultures this way. Over the years, I've had a few that I didn't care for as a youngster, turn out to be something I liked well later.

1. Beef Liver. I discovered that it could be cooked just long enough to be rare. Calf's liver and sauteed onions...Yum City!:pig::pig::pig: Gagged me when I was young.

2. Horseradish. When I was a kid, I lived with my Aunt for a couple years and holding a teaspoon of horseradish in the mouth for 5 minutes was the punishment for cussing or lying. By having it often, I learned to like it.

3. Buttermilk. The stuff gagged me bad when I was younger. Now it's all I can do to keep some in the fridge. My cat loves it too!
 
Sure my tastes changed a lot over years

1. As Andy M., my tastes are broadened widely. Facing many more choices from various cuisine, I learnt to enjoy a variety of foods cooked in incredibly many ways.

2. Part of my personality is to look for and try new stuff. It's my natural eager to experiment new cooking and tasting new foods. As a child, my mom was the only source of cooking at home and she's not the type that likes changes. But since I grown up and became the cook for myself, I marched into new food adventures.

3. Lastly, I do think kids' taste buds work differently than adults. For reasons that I can't explain, I think there are some biological reasons why most kids are picky eaters and many of them grow out of it when they grow older.
 
Just to add to my original comment. I really dislike stuffing and cranberry sauce. But I make it a point to taste them every year at thanksgiving. I am waiting for the day that I enjoy these two things. Since everyone else I know loves them.

However, goat cheese is one of those things that I dont think I will ever like and I am ok with that. I have tried it at least 5 times and have not liked it yet. I think it tastes like the goat smells. But goat cheese is more of a periphery item for me while cranberry sauce and stuffing is like an American tradition.
 
My tastes have not changed much since I was a child. I will eat asparagus now, though only fresh. As a kid it was the canned stuff (as that is what my Dad liked).

I have tried many new things as an adult, but my tastes for things hasn't really changed. It doesn't matter how you do Brussel sprouts, they are still little bundles of ick that I can not eat.
 
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